New name and national plans for Wirral Autistic Society

Forty seven years after charity Wirral Autistic Society was founded by a group of Wirral parents determined to do the best for their children, the organisation has unveiled its new identity – Autism Together.

The charity, which employs over 800 staff and supports more than 400 people with autism across Merseyside and Cheshire, revealed its new look at its first national conference, Autech 2015, held in Manchester on 1 October.

The name had been voted for by the society’s staff and service users, who chose the word ‘together’ to reflect the organisation’s inclusive approach.

Chief executive Robin Bush, said, “We wanted to explain to people with autism, to families, to carers, to professionals, that if you are associated with autism, you are not on your own and you don’t have to feel isolated. You can come to our organisation and be part of what we do. You’ll be part of our community and we’ll provide the best quality support and services that we possibly can.”

He added, “We thought long and hard about the name change. We felt the word ‘society’ was traditionally associated with fundraising and awareness raising. We do all that invaluable work, of course, but we do so much more. The diversity of our portfolio is immense and we have stepped far, far beyond the traditional charity model.”

Over recent years Wirral Autistic Society has grown to become one of the largest employers on the Wirral peninsula, offering a range of services including respite care, residential care, supported living, a children and families resource centre and a huge range of day services including a garden centre and cafe. It also manages Port Sunlight River Park on behalf of the Land Trust. Earlier this year the society opened a state-of-the-art £1m home for people with severe autism on its Raby Hall site.

Robin said, “All the good work done by our invaluable staff will continue but now we are also set up to look beyond Wirral. For some years we’ve had a plan in place to focus on other areas of the North West, such as Cheshire and North Wales. Having won numerous national awards and accolades for our services, we felt it was our duty to offer them to as wide a geographic area as we could reach. But we were also being asked, day in, day out, by people from right across the UK if we could help them. We hope that by launching Autism Together, that we can grow organically to meet those critical needs.”

The Wirral Centre for Autism in Bromborough, however, will retain its name. Robin said, “We are incredibly proud of it and it keeps us rooted and grounded in our heritage. It’s vital that we don’t lose sight of where we’ve come from whilst we are busy broadening our horizons.”